Star Trek

[Valka]

Back in the '70s, according to Peter David. He was one of the people whose fanzines got taken, apparently (this was obviously before he was a professional novelist).

Ironic, considering that the first ST fanzine, Spockanalia, had Gene Roddenberry's blessing.

Now some fanzine sellers do gouge horribly. I've seen some really wild prices demanded from one or two eBay sellers. Anyone charging $250 for Spock Enslaved is definitely gouging. I managed to find it for somewhere in the vicinity of $15-20 US (more in Canadian funds, but not too much; the exchange rate was better at that time).

But in the '70s, most fanzines were less than $5, even the big ones. For that matter, I think the most expensive issue of IADR I ever bought was still under $10 US, in the mid-'80s. But the exchange rate back then was something like 43% and there were extra fees for the money order and postage, so it was a huge bite out of my budget. People were basically charging just for the cost of the paper, ink, and postage... which is as it should be.

[Buster's Uncle]

...That would be even worse than Kickstarting, etc., if only zines were higher-profile and in more direct competition with the studio...

[Valka]

The thing is, while they can shut down a film production, there is no way they can shut down fanfiction. It's physically impossible. Sure, they can order the fanfic sites to take down everything that's Star Trek, and order eBay not to allow Star Trek stuff... but they absolutely cannot prevent me from writing a story and emailing it to somebody, or sending it via snailmail, whether money changes hands or not. Legally? Yeah, they have the right. But they'd have to catch me first, and there's no practical way to make that happen.

[Valka]

I found the relevant posts on TrekBBS (as usual, the thread is quite long, and someone very kindly "liked" my post, which made it easier to find).

The post in which Peter David is quoted: http://www.trekbbs.com/threads/breaking-official-fan-film-guidelines-issued.281671/page-22#post-11631563

Star Trek Fan film GuidelinesSo thanks mostly to the efforts of the “Axanar” people, the guys who raised a million bucks to produce a “Star Trek” based film which resulted in a lawsuit, Paramount has now issued specific guidelines for anyone who wants to make a Trek fan film.  And naturally fans are unhappy about it.


My response?


You guys are damned lucky.


When I was producing a “Star Trek” fanzine back in the 1970s, Paramount issued a decree:  No one could write “Star Trek” fanfic.  It was copyright infringement, plain and simple, and not to be allowed.  At one convention I attended, Paramount lawyers actually came into the dealer’s room and confiscated peoples’ fanzines from right off their tables.


The fact that they loosened up to the degree that they have should be something fan filmmakers should feel damned grateful for. You want to make fan films about space adventures but you don’t like the Paramount decrees?  Fine.  Create your own damned characters and universe and do whatever the hell you want.  You own the copyright and have the ability to tell any kind of story for however long you want. That’s my advice.  Otherwise live with it.
PAD

My post: http://www.trekbbs.com/threads/breaking-official-fan-film-guidelines-issued.281671/page-22#post-11631590

[Buster's Uncle]

-That would be a crackdown associated with The Motion Picture, then.  Lawyers will be lawyers...

[Buster's Uncle]

http://axamonitor.com/doku.php?id=guidelines_aftermath

Aftermath
How the New Guidelines Affect Current Fan Productions
Axamonitor
2016/06/26 03:53 by Carlos Pedraza



In the aftermath of the release by CBS and Paramount of production guidelines on June 23, 2016, stunned fan producers assessed the impact of the new restrictions on their shows.


Impact on Star Trek Fan Productions

The titles below link to each production's statement in response to the studios' new guidelines. 


Absolution  Awaiting clarification; temporarily suspended 
Aurora  Awaiting clarification; temporarily suspended 
Axanar  Continuing production; believes it has fair use immunity 
Dark Armada  Awaiting clarification; temporarily suspended 
Diplomatic Relations  Audio drama; suspended indefinitely 
Equinox  Suspended indefinitely 
Farragut  Awaiting clarification 
Henglaar, M.D.  Audio drama; suspended indefinitely 
Intrepid  Awaiting clarification of the guidelines; temporarily suspended (exec expects indefinite suspension soon) 
Lost Frontier  Audio drama; removing all episodes 
Melbourne  Continuing production; believes it complies with guidelines 
Nature's Hunger  Continuing production; believes it complies with guidelines 
Outpost  Audio drama; suspended indefinitely 
Pacific 201  Continuing production; believes it complies with guidelines 
Project: Potemkin  Continuing production; believes it complies with guidelines 
Renegades  No longer a Star Trek project; continuing production 
Saladin  Suspended indefinitely 
Section 31 Files  Audio drama; removing all episodes 
Starfinder  Audio drama; awaiting clarification; temporarily suspended 
Star Trek: Anthology  Suspended indefinitely 
Star Trek Continues  Awaiting clarification 
Star Trek: The Continuing Mission  Audio drama; suspended indefinitely 
Star Trek: New Voyages/Phase II  Website down, official status unknown (likely suspended indefinitely) 
Star Trek: Shadows of Tyranny  Audio drama; suspended indefinitely 
Yorktown: A Time To Heal  Awaiting clarification; temporarily suspended 

Special thanks to James Heaney for collating these responses.

At last count, there are more than 50 different shows and projects in progress, so this chart is likely to be updated.

Audio dramas may not be subject to these guidelines.

[Valka]

OH, FUDDLE-DUDDLE! 

Why have the audio dramas been suspended/shut down?

Some people on TrekBBS have made death threats against Alec Peters. It's interesting that the admins there haven't cracked down on that beyond a "don't say things like that" response.

What a shame about New Voyages/Phase II. Their stuff with the new guy playing Kirk is just awful, but what's really the pity in this is that the episodes with George Takei and Walter Koenig  are most in violation of CBS' guidelines. Those were the best of the lot.

[Buster's Uncle]

Fuddle-duddle, indeed.

-I'll really miss Continues.

[Buster's Uncle]

...I think I definitely better watch that latest Continues episode tonight in case/before something stupid happens...

[Buster's Uncle]

So the Continues Facebook page posted a photo of weak Spock, little Scotty and yet-another-taking-up-space McCoy-



-and said Photoshop green screen challenge...

[Buster's Uncle]

Star Trek Continues latest episode

I am reminded that I haven't watched this yet, and need to before it's too late, though I note that their Facebook page is sounding like they know something they're not telling and not planning to shut down right away...

Anyway, after I've scratched up some supper and slopped th' katz, let's see if I can't find time to have a look...


Incidentally, vituperating CBS/Paramount about some bad creative decisions in re: the last few "Star Trek" movies is never out of line as far as I'm concerned...

[Buster's Uncle]

Another Continues photoshop challenge.  Other than captioning it "I Miss MythBusters" and shooping in Karie dropping a car on their Chekov, which would be in rather poor taste, I'm out of ideas.

[Buster's Uncle]

...Made it all the way through the teaser w/o being either excited or bored enough to stop and report - make of that what you will.  I only spotted Chianna from Farscape at the end...

[Buster's Uncle]

14:54

No particular reason for stopping at this point, except the commercial breaks are not well-marked and I wanted to note that there's surely all sorts of problems with this, but fairly tight pacing makes up for a lot.  I'm enjoying the ride.

Somebody really should have mentioned the Horta by now, with talk of rock creature biology -and the ... Excallibans, was it?- and it's hard to believe a FAN production resisted the urge to make the reference...

[Buster's Uncle]

21:18

Okay, I really could have done without a plot point of everyone being upset jerks, tonight.  Watching people be angry is making me very uncomfortable.